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METHANOL AS A REPLACEMENT FOR PETROL AND DISTILLATE: A SOLUTION TO A POTENTIAL ENERGY CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA

This article considers the possibility of a critical shortage of crude oil in Australia within the next ten years and suggests the use of methanol as an alternative source of fuel for transport. The use of methanol will reduce Australia's dependence on crude oil by about 60% for 1986. Methanol meets all the requirements of a fuel to replace petrol and distillate. Australia has ample fossil fuels that can be economically converted to methanol. Also, because it is an island continent with no road transport regularly entering from other countries, Australia can adopt methanol as a road transport fuel quite independently of the fuelling requirements of vehicles in the rest of the world. Further, because Australia has a substantial domestic motor vehicle industry, any decision to replace petrol and distillate with methanol could be largely supported by the local manufacture of vehicles expressly designed for methanol. /TRRL/

Corporate Authors:

Western Australia University, Australia

Faculty of Economics and Commerce6009 Nedlands, Western Australia,
Australia